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Topic: Top Chef Masters 3 (Read 12921 times)

I accept the corrections franxaverian offered, but kiki your corrections were invalid except for the winner due to them being duplicates of what I had. The mistake I made was in using an alternate source which has always in the past put the master chefs in alphabetical order. I assumed that that was the way they were without actually double-checking. With the winner, I had Floyd circled as such in my notes but since I knew it was the meatball sub that won and I had George down as its creator, I changed it to an incorrect chef.

I appreciate the corrections, but I will go further. If any of you want to become the recapper for Top Chef Masters 3, please let me know by PM. It is not as task I must do. I will warn you that it is much more time consuming that you might imagine.

I regret to report that you are again right (making it timely that you will be doing these recaps TCM3 starting this week). The Blue team of George, Floyd and Naomi was the winner and the Green team of Suvir, MarySue and Alex was the loser.

Bottom 3:Alex - Salmon's not great. Fritters are too sweet. Too much little elements & not coming together.George - Clam was hard to eat. Cucumber was hard to be eaten by hand. No sauce. Not adapting to fast-food environmentCelina - Wrap was more like a pancake, not wrapped. Fillings are bland, underseasoned.

Franxaverian appears to be away, so I offer this recap for this week's episode:

TCM3, Ep. 7

The Quickfire Challenge was one dear to Tom Colicchio’s (Executive Producer) heart, testing the senses, and also would have been for Gordon Ramsay of the “Masterchef” series. The master chefs were given headphones, earplugs and a blindfold and used one or more for each of the following tests. One chef was eliminated for each of the first several rounds, then the last 2 chef competed to win $5,000 for his charity, but no immunity.

The first round had 5 ingredients tasted with sight, sound and smell blocked. The ingredients were water chestnuts, Worcestershire sauce, cashews, papaya and mustard greens. The Floyd got none right and was eliminated from the Quickfire. The second group was epoisses cheese, hot sauce, root beer, rice vinegar and mayonnaise with smell unblocked. Naomi could not believe she missed mayonnaise but it was Traci eliminated. The next one was testing the sense of touch and the ingredients were okra, gummy bears, blackberries, chayote/mirlaton and arborio rice. Celina and Naomi were knocked out. That left MarySue versus Hugh for a test of hearing. They both missed rice Krispies with milk but were almost simultaneous for celery breaking. Hugh was very slightly faster. The next one was eating a potato chip, which neither got. Hugh got shucking oysters and then won with buttering toast.

The Elimination Challenge was about food for love. A male named Chris came in to describe his romance and how he was planning to propose to his girlfriend at a special dinner that the master chefs would create based on the story of his romantic life with this woman. The chefs designed this 6 course menu, with each responsible for one course:

The master chefs cooked this meal for 21 couples, including judges James Osener, Gael Greene (finally back and desperately missed), Gail Simmons and Curtis Stone. The mothers of the couple came to the kitchen to watch the action through a special window. The courses were designed to provide hints of what was to come, but the target of the proposal Victoria did not get the hints. After the dessert course, Chris went down on bended knee and proposed, which Victoria after a brief pause accepted. The mothers then rushed into the room as the betrothed couple was toasted with champagne.

One of the more fascinating exchanges ever took place when James Oseland asked his dinner partner Gael Greene about her sexual encounter with Elvis Presley (in 1956) which ash been documented in writing by Greene multiple times so it was not a revelation. She said she was left with him when there were no other females in the after-concert, so she was led into his bedroom. As she was departing, he asked her to place an egg sandwich order with room service for him.

OK, so who did well and who did less well. The food was generally simple, almost pedestrian, with only a few fine touches to indicate who had done better. The Winners’ Group was Naomi, MarySue and Floyd. Floyd had taken a risk on spiciness but the results were fruity, spicy and wonderful according to judges’ feedback. MarySue’s Portuguese stew (I would have loved to eat that) was cooked perfectly and the spiciness of the sausage was just right. Naomi did something to enhance the crispness of the skin and the judges loved it. The winner of the $10,000 prize for Seed Savers’ Exchange was Naomi.

The Losers’ Group was Traci (first time), Celina (almost all the time) and Hugh. Hugh’s meat was chewy and his exchange with the judges indicated that he prefers to cook down to his audience. Traci’s apple tart was missing moisture or sauce, probably because the apples she used are somewhat dry. Celina did a standard pretzel (part of the dating ritual with beer and a hockey game for the dating couple) and what appeared to be a decent salad, but was criticized for not doing anything special with the pretzel (such as turning it into a pot pie) and for two disparate elements in her dish that did not meld well.

Celina at Judges’ Table was told that a variation on the pretzel would have been preferred. Hugh was told he was banal and not ambitious. Traci was advised she should have considered applesauce for under the tart.

Final comments before the verdict was announced were:Celina – good salad and pretzel but they did not go togetherHugh – it’s never a good idea to cook downTraci – you missed an opportunity.Celina, who had escaped numerous times before, was eliminated. I have to believe her poor showing on the Quickfire also contributed.

With only 4 master chefs left, it's time for a fearless forecast. I like Floyd for the win despite the fact that he has yet to win any Quickfire or Elimination Challenge. For #2 I like Traci despite the fact that she has lost the luster of the first 6 episodes. Naomi and MarySue will be fighting it out for #3. I think Naomi has a slight edge.

In next week's TCM3 episode I expect the last of the eliminations to happen, then the finale will be the following week as a lead-in to the new Rocco's Dinner Party show, which will take over the 10pm time slot starting the following week.

@Apskip: Floyd has won 1 elimination challenge, The Biggest Loser one. I'm confused with the preview for the next episode where they show Floyd for half of it.

For the TCM first, finally women got into finale. I'm rooting for Naomi or Traci actually. Naomi is like a beast that I actually predicted to go out 1st from the competition but she keeps surprising me with all her creations. Traci is really good in almost everything although she was in 'bottom 3' in the last two.

Here's a fun fact: Apart from the 1st elimination challenge which was won by Alex, all 4 are the only contestants who won the elimination challenge and even the top 5, with the exception of John C. are the only winners of Quickfire.

Both of these cannot be correct. The first one is wrong, as Floyd according to his own statement in the most recent episode has never won either a Quickfire or an Elimination Challenge. Also, the first elimination challenge was won by Alex.

I have missed things before, so possibly I do not have the correct perspectives.

I stand by my own record. I downloaded the episode and I re-watched the episode before I write my fun fact. Well, I re-watch the episode after Floyd mentioned that he never won anything and I immediately remember that he won something. I distinctively remember Alex's win because the other person in the top 2 was Naomi and she was remembered with her unique style of seating yet still cooked that good

Franxaverian is right about Floyd. Floyd won the elimination challenge at episode 4 for his meat balls. It was the episode when they cooked for the people who lost weight.Maybe Floyd referred to himself as has never won, in regard to the quickfires.

Elimination challenge: Create a homecoming meal for military servicemen returning from overseas. Serving in buffet for friends and families. 400 people. 1 Main + 2 Dishes. Winner would be determined by the amount of votes.

Non-winner(Automatic Bottom 3):Naomi - The rice salad didn't work and Ruth's shrimp was undercookedTraci - The plate wasn't attractive. The meatloaf was salty.Floyd - Danyelle questioned the meat that was too plain. Salad was bizarre with spinach and pomegranate

In next week's season finale on Wednesday, June 15 at 10 p.m ET/PT, the final three chefs must create a 4-course meal based on memory, inspiration and self-reflection (just like TCM1 and TCM2) . To stir up the pot, the fourth course is a blast from the past, as the chefs must remake their worst reviewed meal for the critics that dished out un-appetizing reviews. For a sneak peek go to: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/season-3/videos/stress-builds-in-the-final-minutes.

Arghhhhh......I'm still devastated about Naomi's loss. The moment Ruth mentioned about the undercooked shrimp, I know that she's out.

I'm a bit surprised about Mary Sue as she was in the bottom a couple of times but in the last 5, she won 3 of them. I might be deceived by her looks. I thought up until last episode that she was young but last episode, the chefs mentioned that Naomi is the youngest one out of 4. Mary Sue might be in to win it....

I find the question of the ages of the TCM3 Final 4 interesting, so I have done some serious detective work to find out more about their ages. Somewhere over the past 2 months I discovered that Naomi Pomeroy is age 37, so let's start with that.

MarySue Milliken has been in partnership professionally and living with renowned chef Susan Feniger (a TCM2 competitor) since 1981 and they met working in a restaurant in 1978. MarySue was born in 1958, so that means she is either 53 or soon to turn 53.

Traci Des Jardins has left no specific information on the public record about her birthdate or age, but it can be inferred from her work history. She stated as a student at the University of Santa Cruz, but there is no indication that she finished there (if she did she's older), so assume that she was 20 when she left there. She started working at 7th St. Bistro in Los Angeles soon after it opened in 1981. Let's call it age 50 or 51 for her; she cannot be younger but she could be slightly older.

Floyd Cardoz also has left no specific information on the public record about his birthday or age. However, we know that he got a Masters Degree in Biochemistry in India. Let's assume he did so at an age of at least 23 (although it is possible to get a MS younger than that; I did). He then attended a culinary school in India, so say 24 minimum at graduation. He then moved to Europe and attended another culinary school there. He is on record of being trained at Lespinasse for 5 years, so that made him a minimum of 30. In 1998 he made it to the U.S., so that adds 13 years to determine his current age. I am calling it at at least 43.

So, Naomi was the youngest (and she looked it), Floyd was next youngest (and he looked it), Traci was next oldest and MarySue probably the oldest.

And with this, Top Chef Masters 3 has been wrapped up beautifully.....

Oh how I am so surprised to hear that James' favorite food is rendang. For me, rendang is also a favorite dish and I love comparing how each restaurant cooks their rendang in their specialised way(being an Indonesian, if someone has never eaten rendang, he/she might as well become other country's resident). So happy to see that the dish is cooked perfectly by Floyd.

@Apskip: Great guessing for the winner. I was concerned that Floyd weren't gonna able to cook the rendang as it is usually cooked overnight and when it is shown that he lost a lot of time, I thought he's gone for good.